2024-01-01 20:21:18
Three years ago, on a pre-pandemic planet, ‘Forbes’ cited Naomi Osaka (26 years old) as the highest-earning female athlete in history. And ‘Time’ magazine included her in the list of the hundred most influential people in the world. The tennis player, born in Japan by her mother, to a Haitian father and raised in the United States since she was three years old, was the number one in the world. She has four Grand Slams in her locker.
The player who seemed intractable encountered the invisible enemy, the impalpable pain of sport. Mental health. Retired since September 2022, a first-time mother in that period, Osaka returns animated and with a victory in her comeback against Tamara Korpatsch (6-3 and 7-6) in the same Brisbane tournament where Nadal tries to rediscover her previous life .
Osaka entered the unstable wheel of celebrity five years ago, when she defeated Serena Williams (23 Grand Slam) in the final of the United States Open and became the first Japanese tennis player to win this major.
His sporting rise was unstoppable (he won two Australian Opens and another US Open), but inside him another series of ingredients related to the frustration and anxiety that exploded at Roland Garros 2021 came together.
Osaka was caught by a hidden claw: fear. Fear of speaking in public, panic of facing the media before or after a game, a disease called glossophobiaThis is linked to catastrophic thoughts in advance, irrational situations, low self-esteem, a negative experience or fatigue due to stress.
Scared of speaking in public
Some, several or all of these conditions pushed her to withdraw from Roland Garros and dedicate time to herself, her anxiety and depression. “I thought it was necessary, but I felt embarrassed at that time, because as an athlete they tell you to be strong and overcome everything, but I learned that it is better to regroup and adjust the feelings you have to come back stronger,” he said on The Late Show.
The Japanese woman navigated those stormy waters, with comings and goings, always on the edge, until she made a more decisive decision. She stopped competing after the Tokyo Open, at the end of September 2022. Another vital priority. I wanted to be a mother.
Last July, the tennis player and her partner, American rapper Cordae, welcomed their first daughter, Shai. Tennis had taken a backseat, Osaka was 438th in the world.
Fifteen months after her hiatus, the Japanese has returned. “Being a mother has changed my perspective on many things,” she said at the Australian tournament. «I feel like I have more confidence in who I am as a person. I wasn’t in my own body. I was driving the wrong car. Little by little, step by step, we worked hard and got to where I am now.
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